GREENE: Old School Museum presents John James Audubon on Friday

By Editor | July 2, 2024 |

Brian “Fox” Ellis, in the persona of John James Audubon, performs in front of a crowd of 35 to 40 enthralled audience members Friday night at the Old School Museum in Winchester. Ellis, for an hour, became Audubon and told how he began painting birds and would go on to become one of the greatest known artists and ornithologists in America. (Carmen Ensinger/Greene Prairie Press)

By Carmen Ensinger

Even though John James Audubon has been dead for 173 years, he came to life Friday night at the Old School Museum in Winchester to talk about his life and his work to a crowd of 35 to 40 people.
No, it wasn’t a divine miracle that brought Audubon to life – it was storyteller and re-enactor Brian “Fox” Ellis who, for an hour, left his Ellis persona at the door of the museum and stepped into the life of Audubon, right down to the French accent.
Audubon, born in 1785, was sent to America in 1803 by his father to avoid conscription during the years of the French Revolution. His love of birds and art would lead him to become the most noted ornithologist in America.
This love of art and ornithology turned into a goal to make a complete pictorial record of all the bird species in North America.
But he did more than just paint the birds – he did an extensive study of each and every bird he painted – the story of which Ellis regaled to the audience through the voice of Audubon himself.
This is the third time Ellis has appeared at the Old School Museum – the first time he appeared as Walt Whitman and the second time as John Deere.
“I have about 30 different characters that I interpret now,” Ellis said. “But I think John James Audubon is perhaps my favorite.”
When asked why Audubon was his favorite, Ellis said it was because his art was “really world class art.”
“One page of his book recently sold for $500,000,” Ellis said. “Plus, he is an amazing scientific artist as well. His paintings are so accurate you can identify not just a bird, but the flower and tree the bird prefers as well. He was also a great writer. So, what you have is art, science, history and literature all rolled up into one. There is something for everyone in his work.”
Ellis said he became a storyteller for a couple of reasons.
“As a kid I grew up doing a lot of hunting and fishing and started telling stories about the ‘big one’ that got away,” Ellis said with a grin. “Then, in high school and college, I did a lot of theatre, but I have a lot of trouble memorizing lines so I decided to become a storyteller so I could just make it up as I go.”
But fear not, Ellis doesn’t just “make up” his material about the characters he portrays.
“Actually, each character I portray I end up doing about a year’s worth of research on before I actually do them in front of an audience,” he said. “I don’t have a set script for my performances, but all of the material is well researched.”
For example, Ellis, as Audubon and in a deep French accent, talks about his research on birds in North America.
“I tried to capture the story of every bird in America,” he said. “Every bird I drew I wrote the story of its life – an ornithological biography of all 465 species. I wrote five to 10 pages about every bird – more than 2,000 pages, which were published in seven volumes. It was the life story of every bird. I did not just see a bird and draw it – I would follow it in its annual migrations.”
In addition to being a storyteller, Ellis is also a journalist. He has published 32 books and 100’s of magazine articles over the last 40 years. He is currently the editor of the Illinois Audubon Society magazine, the oldest conservation group in the state and oldest and only in print ecology focused statewide magazine.
Unlike most people, who would have a day job and do what Ellis does as a sideline, it has been just the opposite for Ellis.
“Until lately, my only job has been as a full-time performer and writer,” he said. “When I turned 60 about two years ago, I wanted to see what it was like to have a real job so I got my first day job as the editor of the Illinois Audubon Society magazine.”